Stars Travel to Madison this Weekend
USHL Lincoln Stars

Stars Travel to Madison this Weekend

April 1, 2025 - United States Hockey League (USHL)
Lincoln Stars News Release


The top teams in both conferences face off this weekend as the Lincoln Stars travel to take on the Madison Capitols this Friday and Saturday at Bob Suter's Legacy20 Arena.

Lincoln (41-15-2-0) snapped a three-game losing streak with a 6-2 win over the Des Moines Buccaneers last Saturday at the Ice Box in their lone game of the weekend. They scored five-or-more goals in a game for the 27th time this season, matching the franchise record originally set in 1997-98. Lincoln needs three more wins over its final four games to set its single-season wins record and pass the 2000-01 (43-7-4-2) and 2001-02 (43-15-0-3) seasons.

The Stars lead the USHL with 259 goals, 23 more than the next team (Madison). Lincoln has secured a first-round bye in the Clark Cup Playoffs and will open the second round at home either Apr. 18 or 19 at the Ice Box. Lincoln will be playing on Apr. 19 at home, regardless of whether it is Game 1 or Game 2 of the second round. The Stars are now looking to secure the Anderson Cup as holders of the top regular-season record in the entire USHL. Their magic number is five and are attempting to win the Anderson Cup for the fourth time in franchise history, joining 1999-00, 2000-01 and 2002-03.

One of the teams chasing them is Madison (38-16-3-1), arguably the hottest team in the USHL with wins in eight-of-its-last-10 games. The Capitols have already set their single-season wins record and have the most wins of any team at their home rink in the USHL (21-4-1-1). Madison has only played two home games since the start of March but has won eight-of-its-last-nine games in Middleton. The Capitols took two-of-three games against the Muskegon Lumberjacks on the road last weekend and Sunday's loss snapped a seven-game winning streak. They have not lost back-to-back games since Mar. 5-6 at Youngstown.

Caleb Heil has earned the USHL Goaltender of the Week honor for each of the last two weeks. He has won three-of-his-last-four starts while posting a 2.26 goals-against average and a .939 save percentage in that time. Heil faced the Stars three times over the previous two seasons as a member of the Sioux Fall Stampede and went 2-1 with a 3.67 GAA and an .893 SV%.

The Stars wrapped up March with a 6-3-1 record and now look to play deep into April once the regular season ends Apr. 12. One player especially looking to carry his March production into April is forward Lefty Markonidis, who scored seven times in 10 games last month. He is looking to become the sixth different Star to score 20 goals this season, joining Jack Pechar (25), Daniel Shlaine (23), Dashel Oliver (23), Bruno Idzan (22) and Gio DiGiulian (21).

The Stars opened the season with a 5-2 win against the Capitols at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry Township, Penn. at the 2024 DICK'S Sporting Goods USHL Fall Classic Sep. 20 in the only other previous matchup between the two squads. Lincoln is 14-2 against Eastern Conference opponents this season. Madison is 12-3-1 vs. Western Conference foes.

This weekend is Lincoln's first trip to Madison since Jan. 17, 2019. The Stars lost, 4-3, when Josh Boyer scored the game-winning goal at the 19:18 mark of the third.

Check out the Lincoln Stars Statistics



United States Hockey League Stories from April 1, 2025


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